Natural Resources Department

Our Mission

The mission of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe NRD includes but is not limited to developing a comprehensive plan to establish an illegal dumping prevention and monitoring program in the Mashpee Wildlife Refuge and on tribal lands, providing training and employment opportunities to tribal members in the environmental and natural resources field, and continuing our role as stewards of our ancestral lands.

Fred Spruill - Field Assistant

Clayton Oakley-Robbins – Water Resources Technician

Current NRD News and Announcements

The Natural Resources Department (NRD) and the Fish, Wildlife & Natural Resources Commission (FWNRC) participates in the cleanup of illegal dump sites on Tribe and Town land in Mashpee. The NRD and FWNRC has partnered with with the Cape Cod Jeep Club and the Mashpee Land Stewards to clean up the Noisy Hole property off of Meetinghouse Rd. and the Johns Pond area on Town land in Mashpee.

The New England Cottontail (NEC) rabbit's ideal habitat has been greatly reduced due to massive development taking place over the last century. Efforts are underway from east of the Hudson River into New England to avoid having the NEC placed on the endangered species list by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service by creating new habitats to increase the overall population of NEC rabbits.

In an attempt to avoid this classification, the Tribe’s Natural Resources Department has acquired funding from USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service through USET to conduct an animal inventory on tribal lands and in the tribal use area on Cape Cod.